Pinging In The New Year: Seesmic Acquires Ping.fm — Well that didn't take long. Just four days in 2010 and we already have an acquisition. Social networking application Seesmic has acquired the social status updater Ping.fm. — The move positions the various Seesmic applications …

Facebook fights back, disallows the Suicide Machine — Like the computer in the movie “2001,” Facebook is struggling to keep its profiles from virtual extinction at the hands of its arch enemy - the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine. — The Suicide Machine is a clever Web site out of the Netherlands …

Google And Spotify Dance Over U.S. Launch — Spotify. The elusive European streaming music startup that you just can't get access to in the U.S., unless you know someone or jump through a few hoops. — The U.S. launch has been delayed over aggressive negotiations with the labels …

Exclusive: VMware Likely to Buy Zimbra from Yahoo — Yahoo is close to selling its Zimbra unit to VMware, according to several sources close to the situation. — Sources said the deal will be announced soon, but the price for the open-source email unit was still unclear.

Fresh legal woes for ConnectU founders — It must have been quite the unwanted holiday gift: CNET has learned that there's a new lawsuit on the table against Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the identical twins who alleged that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their code and business plan …

Coming soon: Apple's $20 billion revenue explosion — Blink and you may have missed it in among the seasonal festivities and dawn of the new decade, but CNBC's December 30 Power Lunch show gave a little insight into the power behind Apple's stock advance, with Phil Cusick …

Hearst Shows Off Its Snazzy E-Reader, The Skiff Reader — Hearst released images of a new e-reader, the Skiff Reader, which it will begin selling later this year for a price it has yet to announce. — It will be the thinnest e-reader to hit the market, weighing just over a pound and sporting an 11.5" touch screen.

Trying to Add Portability to Movie Files — It is easy to take a DVD to a friend's house and watch it on his TV. But things are more complicated when digital video downloads are involved. A movie file bought from Blockbuster.com will not work on a Sony HDTV, for example …

Watching TV Together, Miles Apart — SAN FRANCISCO — For the lonely couch potato, help is on the way. — Simple technology, including video chatting services like Skype, is making it possible for far-flung friends to watch shows together, even if they can't share the same bowl of popcorn.

Facebook Rolling Out Redesign To Some Users — Facebook seems to be rolling out its new site design to at least some people outside the company, although none of us at TechCrunch have yet to be graced with its presence. The new design is “exactly” like the screenshots that GigaOm posted on December 27, says one source.

Graphic.ly Raises $1.2M For Comic Publishing — Graphic.ly, a content delivery system and community platform for the publishing world, today announced that they have raised $1.2 million in funding. Graphic.ly was originally named Take Comics, and was part of the 2009 TechStars program in Boulder, Co.

Popbox hub promises 1080p anywhere, Netflix — Syabas preluded CES today with its most ambitious media hub to date. The Popbox replaces the Popcorn Hour as the flagship media hub and revolves around a major, much more polished interface overhaul designed by Moxie's inventor and former Microsoft executive Dewey Reid.

A New Behemoth Emerges In Google Maps: Wikipedia — Google's recent introduction of Place Pages within Maps came in sync with some key adjustments in the factors used to rank local search content. The combination of changes has resulted in Wikipedia abruptly emerging as a major influence on local search rankings.

Device turns iPhone, iPod touch into universal remote — L5 Technology is using this week's CES trade show in Las Vegas to debut the L5 Remote, a $50 accessory (paired with a free application) that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a universal remote control. It's coming in February.

A look at Apple's love for DRM and consumer lock-ins — Apple is a company known for many things, but embracing copyright freedoms has not been one of them. The company loves creating new and innovative products that challenge the world's perception of what it thought it wanted …

Nokia's New Mobile Chief: We'll Match Apple, RIM By 2011 — If he had wanted to debunk those rumors that it might buy Palm, Nokia's new mobile phones head Rick Simonson could have picked a more outright denial. — Simonson, who in November switched from CFO to run the mobile unit …